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Northern Gothic: A Novella
 
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Northern Gothic: A Novella [Paperback]

Nick Mamatas (Author)
4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)

Price: $10.00 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details
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Book Description

November 15, 2001
Northern Gothic is the story of supernaturally crossed worlds — Manhattan’s Chelsea district of the present and New York during the Civil War draft riots. William, a young Irish immigrant trying to avoid the war, and Ahmadi, a gay man from the South trying to make it in the Big Apple, find their paths — and destinies — intertwined as William is sucked into the racist violence of the riots and Ahmadi is pulled inexorably into the past.

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Product Details

  • Paperback: 90 pages
  • Publisher: Soft Skull Press (November 15, 2001)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1887128743
  • ISBN-13: 978-1887128742
  • Product Dimensions: 8 x 6 x 0.3 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,182,204 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Nick Mamatas. Author of two novels; Move Under Ground (Night Shade 2004, Prime 2006) and Under My Roof (Soft Skull Press, 2007), two collections; 3000MPH In Every Direction At Once (Prime 2003) and You Might Sleep... (Prime 2009), and the novella Northern Gothic (Soft Skull, 2001).

He is also the editor of the anthologies The Urban Bizarre (Prime 2003), Phantom #0 (Prime 2005), Spicy Slipstream Stories (with Jay Lake, Lethe 2008), and Haunted Legends (with Ellen Datlow, Tor 2010).

Nick also co-edited the magazine Clarkesworld for two years, which was nominated for the Hugo and World Fantasy awards. Stories from Clarkesworld have been collected in a pair of anthologies: Realms and Realms 2 (Wyrm Publishing 2008 and 2009).

Nick's own short stories have appeared in literary journals such as Mississippi Review online, subTERRAIN, and Per Contra, slicks including Razor and Spex, and fantasy and horror magazines and anthologies including New Dark Voices 2, Poe's Lighthouse, ChiZine, and Lovecraft Unbound.

His fiction has been nominated for the Bram Stoker awards three times, the International Horror Guild Award, and Germany's Kurd-Laßwitz Preis. His reportage and essays have appeared in the Village Voice, The Smart Set, H+, Clamor, In These Times, various anthologies. With Kap Su Seol he translated and edited the first English edition of a firsthand account of South Korea's Kwangju massacre--Kwangju Diary (UCLA Asian Pacific, 1999).

Nick now lives in the California Bay Area, where he is editor of tradebooks for VIZ Media and edits both Japanese science fiction novels in translation and books associated with Oscar-winning filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki's Studio Ghibli.

 

Customer Reviews

7 Reviews
5 star:
 (4)
4 star:    (0)
3 star:
 (3)
2 star:    (0)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.1 out of 5 stars (7 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars What? That's it?, September 20, 2006
This review is from: Northern Gothic: A Novella (Paperback)
Northern Gothic is a good example. In many ways.

It's a good example of an interesting ghost story where the author actually has managed to create something that indeed does feel like a, more or less, unique angle of approach. The ghost genre is not what you'd want to call an easy genre to work with, and really, how many reasons can you come up with for having ghosts return to haunt the living? Not very many. Yet Mamatas has come up with a story that definitely feels quite fascinating.

Still, it's also a good example of a ghost story where reason(s) for the appearance of the ghosts feels somewhat unclear, even thought the whole thing remains - as mentioned above - very fascinating.

It's a good example of a story that's not very easy to understand, yet still manages to be attractive enough for the reader to keep reading. Even though one doesn't really know what's going on. One of the most boring things you can ever do in the world is reading a book you don't understand, but sometimes you find this book that you insist on keep reading, despite the fact that you don't know who's who, what's what, and why whatever is happening happens. The story in Northern Gothic is strange, to say the least, but will you be able to stop reading? I doubt it.

It's also a good example of a book with a title that remains a complete mystery.

And finally, it's a good example of a book that unfortunately ends just when you're beginning to understand it.
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9 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful, tough, and disturbing, March 18, 2003
By 
Kerry Reid (Chicago, IL United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Northern Gothic: A Novella (Paperback)
Nick Mamatas infuses this "weird tale" that intersects New York's Civil War Draft Riots with a contemporary gay black man's life in Greenwich Village with a smart, and clearly politicized viewpoint. The inexorable play of events seems pitiless on the surface, but the subtly creeping horror works so well because Mamatas refuses to make demons out of the people who are caught in this storm of events. Skip "Gangs of New York" (well, for lots of reasons), and read this instead. It will get under your skin and engage your mind for days afterward.
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6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars An interesting first novel, August 20, 2003
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This review is from: Northern Gothic: A Novella (Paperback)
Nick Mamatas will probably gain popularity in increments and remain a cult writer for many years before achieving widespread recognition.

This is a more an interesting first novel than a great work of literature. It has its moments, but for the most part it's an interesting failure. The 1860s Draft Riot scenes deliver a nice tension. Will Patten is a scary character simply because you initially identify with him. Unfortunately Patten gets lost in the ghost story and the main character - Ahmadi Jenkins - gay dancer and victim of circumstances - takes over. Ahmadi is a dull character. He has no personality. Most of the book involves nasty things happening to Ahmadi and the lack of characterization undercuts any tension.

Buy this book if you're a diehard fan. If you're merely curious, buy another Mamatas book.

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